Speech and Language Milestones: What’s Typical, and When to Get Support

“Should she be saying more by now?” It’s one of the most common questions parents bring to us, and often one they’ve been sitting with for a while — turning it over at the playground, half-asking a relative, then talking themselves out of it.

Here’s the honest position: children develop at genuinely different rates, and most late talkers do catch up. But “most” isn’t “all”, and the children who need support do considerably better when that support starts early. So it’s worth knowing roughly what to expect, and what’s worth a conversation.

Speech and Language Milestones by Age

These are approximate guides, not tests. Children vary, and a child who is behind in one area may be well ahead in another.

By 12 months

• Babbles with a range of sounds (“babababa”, “dadada”)
• Responds to their own name
• Uses gestures — waving, pointing, reaching up
• May have one or two recognisable words

By 18 months

• Around 20 or more words
• Follows simple instructions (“get your shoes”)
• Points to familiar objects or body parts when named
• Copies words and sounds they hear

By 2 years

• Around 50 or more words
• Starting to put two words together (“more juice”, “daddy gone”)
• Understood by familiar adults roughly half the time
• Follows two-part instructions

By 3 years

• Sentences of three or four words
• Understood by people outside the family roughly three-quarters of the time
• Asks lots of questions — what, where, who
• Can talk about things that aren’t in the room

By 4 years

• Understood by almost anyone, most of the time
• Tells simple stories with a beginning and end
• Uses longer, more grammatically complete sentences
• Some sounds may still be developing — r, th, and some blends are commonly later

By 5 years

• Speech is clear to unfamiliar listeners
• Uses complex sentences and joins ideas together
• Can retell an event in order
• Shows early literacy awareness — rhyme, first sounds in words

Signs Worth Acting On

Some things are worth raising sooner rather than adopting a wait-and-see approach:

• Loss of skills at any age. If a child stops using words or gestures they previously had, this warrants prompt assessment — speak to your GP or paediatrician as well as a speech pathologist.
• No babbling by around 12 months, or very limited range of sounds
• No words by 18 months
• No two-word combinations by around 2 years
• Not responding to their name, or limited response to sound generally — a hearing check is a sensible first step
• Very little gesturing — pointing and showing are important precursors to speech
• Frustration around communication — frequent meltdowns when not understood
• Speech that’s very hard to understand compared with other children the same age
• Stuttering that persists beyond a few months, or that your child is becoming aware of and frustrated by

A note on hearing: intermittent hearing loss from repeated ear infections and glue ear is common in young children, and can quietly affect speech and language development. If there’s any doubt, get hearing checked — it’s straightforward, and it changes what support is needed.

“Should We Just Wait and See?”

It’s advice families are often given, sometimes by people who mean well. The difficulty with wait-and-see is that it treats “do nothing” as the neutral option, when it isn’t always.

An assessment isn’t a commitment to therapy. Frequently the outcome is reassurance — development is tracking normally, here are some things to do at home, come back if you’re still worried. That’s a good outcome, and it’s worth far more than months of quiet anxiety.

And where support is needed, early is genuinely better. Communication underpins so much — friendships, behaviour, learning to read, confidence — that addressing difficulties before school tends to prevent a lot of downstream difficulty.

What Helps at Home

Whatever else is happening, these things support language development:

• Narrate the day. Talk through what you’re doing as you do it. Ordinary commentary is genuinely useful input.
• Follow their lead. Talk about whatever they’re already looking at rather than redirecting them to what you’d prefer.
• Add one word. If they say “dog”, you say “big dog”. If they say “big dog”, you say “the big dog is running”.
• Pause and wait. Leave a gap. Children often need longer to formulate a response than adults instinctively allow.
• Read together, and let them turn pages, point and interrupt — it doesn’t need to be a straight read-through.
• Repeat back correctly rather than correcting. If they say “I goed”, respond with “you went! Where did you go?”

Common Questions

My child understands everything but doesn’t say much. Is that a problem?

Strong understanding is a genuinely good sign. But a persistent gap between understanding and speaking is still worth assessing — it tells a speech pathologist something useful about where to focus.

Does being bilingual cause speech delay?

No. This is a common worry and the evidence doesn’t support it. Bilingual children may mix languages or have a smaller vocabulary in each language early on, but their total vocabulary is comparable and they catch up. Keep speaking your home language — it’s an advantage, not a hindrance.

Do boys really talk later than girls?

There’s a small average difference, but it’s frequently over-used as a reason not to act. “He’s a boy” shouldn’t be the explanation for a child who is well outside the expected range.

At what age can a child see a speech pathologist?

Any age. We see toddlers, preschoolers, school-aged children, teens and adults. There’s no minimum age for an assessment, and early intervention with very young children is often parent-coaching rather than direct therapy.

Do I need a referral?

No — you can contact a speech pathologist directly. If you have a GP or paediatrician involved, we’re happy to work alongside them.

If You’re Not Sure, Ask

You know your child better than any milestone chart does. If something feels off, that instinct is worth acting on — and if everything’s fine, you’ll have found that out too.

Our speech pathology team works with children and adults at our Springwood clinic and across Logan, including home, kindy and school visits. We currently have immediate availability.